Ducks find it hard to break old habits, lose to Islanders, 4-1

The Ducks' Mike Santorelli hits the ice in front of the Islanders' goal during Friday's game. BILL ALKOFER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Duck's Shawn Horcoff is sandwiched between New York's Adam Pelech and Brian Strait in front of the Islanders' net Friday. BILL ALKOFER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Ducks' Ryan Kesler jumps to let Corey Perry's shot slide under him for a goal in the second period of Friday's game against the Islanders. Kesler was given an assist. BILL ALKOFER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Ducks' Rickard Rakell hugs teammate Corey Perry after Perry's second-period goal against the Islanders. Rakell had an assist on the goal. BILL ALKOFER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Ducks' Ryan Kesler takes a shot on Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss during the second period of Friday's game. BILL ALKOFER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Islanders' Frans Nielsen collides with the Ducks' Clayton Stoner in the second period of Friday's game. BILL ALKOFER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Islanders' Nikolay Kulemin checks the Ducks' Ryan Getzlaf to the ice in the second period of Friday's game. BILL ALKOFER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Ducks' Patrick Maroon and Islanders' Brian Strait were in the middle of a third period scrum against the glass during Friday's game. BILL ALKOFER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Ducks' Patrick Maroon and Islanders' Brian Strait were in the middle of a third period scrum against the glass during Friday's game. BILL ALKOFER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

ANAHEIM – Just as quickly as they pulled themselves up from the depths of their horrific start, the Ducks have swiftly regressed.

Fun and good times around the Ducks have been in short supply. The New York Islanders were the latest to send them reeling, getting two third-period goals from Frans Nielsen to break open a tight game in a 4-1 victory Friday night at Honda Center.

It was the third straight loss for the Ducks (5-8-4), who did little with a three-game homestand in gaining two out of a possible six points. A four-game winning streak is but a memory, with overtime defeats to Arizona and Edmonton earlier this week.

“I had an awful lot higher aspirations in these three games at home than what the results ended up,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “You would have liked to have seen different outcomes in all three.”

Brock Nelson and Cal Clutterbuck also scored goals for the Islanders (9-6-3), who never trailed and wound up taking two out of three games on their swing through California. Thomas Greiss made 24 saves.

Meanwhile, the Ducks have lost much of the ground they gained in the Pacific Division to dig out of a season-opening 1-7-2 hole. Ryan Kesler called for an attitude change, saying, “It’s been way too negative.”

“We got to get back to having fun and being loose around here,” Kesler said. “It’s like walking on eggshells around here right now. We just got to get back to having fun and enjoying hockey again.”

Corey Perry got the only goal for the Ducks. It gave him 301 for his career, pushing him past Paul Kariya for second place on the Ducks’ all-time list behind Teemu Selanne.

It brought the Ducks within 2-1 in the second period, but that was their only murmur in a largely emotion-free night at the office. Chris Stewart and Kevin Bieksa stirred things up with the Islanders, largely out of frustration in the final seconds.

“Points are at a premium right now for us,” defenseman Cam Fowler said. “With the position that we’ve put ourselves in – I’ve been saying all along since we’ve been talking about it – there’s no room to take a night off here and there.

“We have to come to the rink every night ready to play. Because we need to be a desperate hockey club right now.”

Anton Khudobin stopped 25 shots for the Ducks. Khudobin made several sparkling saves, including two that robbed Islanders captain John Tavares of potential goals, but the Ducks didn’t offer much help in front of him at either end of the ice.

The Ducks have fallen back to fifth place in the Pacific Division and are five points behind third-place Vancouver.

“We’re talking about it,” Khudobin said. “We want to win. We want to get points obviously. Something’s going the wrong way right now. We’ll figure it out.”

WAGNER STICKS

Three weeks have gone by and Chris Wagner hasn’t received an assignment back to the American Hockey League. And he’s thankful.

Wagner played in his 10th straight game Friday and his 11th overall, the same number of games he appeared in during the last regular season and 2015 playoffs. It is an achievement for a hard-nosed forward who’s had a seat on the AHL-to-Anaheim shuttle for two seasons.

“Once you stay up for a week or so, you kind of just feel part of it,” Wagner said. “And I didn’t really spend a lot of time down there so it’s not like I feel responsible for both teams this year.

“Definitely more comfortable. You still got to be on your toes because you never know what’s going to really happen either.”

An ankle injury to Jiri Sekac helped open up a spot, but Wagner has earned his ice time with physical play from the fourth line. He’s managed to deliver timely hits while staying firmly within the rules of what’s allowed. And with that comes trust from the coach.

“It’s baby steps,” Boudreau said. “When he first got there, it was just pure energy. Now he’s killing penalties. He’s surprisingly a physical player. I think the (previous) two games, he’s had nine shots on goal.

“When he starts to have the confidence of scoring, I think he’ll be way more complete. Right now, when he’s in the lineup, we’ve got a lot of options because he can play wing or center.”

The thrill of scoring is all that’s left for him to experience. Wagner was a 17-goal, 51-point guy as a sophomore at Colgate before leaving for pro hockey. He’s accepted the role of a grinder but badly wants that first NHL score.

“I’ve scored at pretty much every other level in my life,” Wagner said. “It’s the NHL. What do you expect? It’s going to be hard. But it’d be nice to get a good bounce. Maybe off my head or something. I don’t care as long as it goes in.”

STONER TO PLEA

Defenseman Clayton Stoner intends to plead guilty for illegal hunting on British Columbia’s central coast as his case will be continued until a later date.

Stoner, who played Friday, did not have to appear in a Vancouver court as he faces multiple charges for making a false statement to obtain a hunting license, hunting without a license, hunting out of season and unlawfully possessing dead wildlife.

A key part of the case was Stoner, a B.C. native, not meeting the necessary residency requirements. According to the British Columbia Wildlife Act, Canadian citizens must maintain residence for “the greater portion of each of the six months out of the 12 calendar months.”

Stoner’s killing of a grizzly bear in 2013 sparked outrage among animal rights activists after photos of him holding the bear’s severed head surfaced in a Vancouver newspaper. About a dozen activists protested outside Honda Center at the Ducks’ home opener Oct. 12.

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